News Briefs

July 01, 2001 |

Staff

AGC and ABC will fight EPA's stormwater runoff regulations. In a joint effort, Associated General Contractors (AGC) and Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) plan to fight regulations in the works by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would require contractors to meet minimum design and maintenance standards for the erosion and sediment controls used during and after construction. AGC and ABC say the new standards, called effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs), could make fundamental and costly changes to the way contractors manage stormwater runoff. The two organizations have retained legal and technical experts to advise members of the construction industry on how to respond to EPA's initiative.

New PBS commissioner named. F. Joseph Moravec, a longtime real estate executive, has been appointed commissioner of the U.S. General Services Administration's Public Buildings Service. Moravec, 50, has been senior adviser for business development at the George Washington University in Washington for the past three years. Prior to that, he was Washington regional partner with Charlotte-based developer Faison Associates and president of the eastern division of the real estate firm of Grubb & Ellis Co.

Engineering group revises name. The American Consulting Engineers Council is now known as the American Council of Engineering Companies. "Our mission remains the same, but we are adopting a name that will allow us to more effectively communicate on behalf of our members and the industry," says the group's chairman, Stephen Goddard. The group's acronym, ACEC, remains unchanged. The name change, which becomes official Aug. 1, follows more than a year of study. Research found that outside of the engineering industry, the term "consulting engineer" was not readily understood.